


she's the giggle at a funeral

by lionheartedgirl



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, Multi, Unhealthy Relationships, blood violence and all the typical behavior one can expect of vampires/humaity free vampires, but come one its tvd, humanity free!caroline, mostly just takes plance in NO though, post 6x17, semi caroline-centric, slight crossover with the originals, vampire typical violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-09
Updated: 2015-04-09
Packaged: 2018-03-22 03:15:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3712735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionheartedgirl/pseuds/lionheartedgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Klaus heard about the two of them long before he saw them, before he knew they were the force of nature taking the country, the supernatural world, by storm. (AKA humanity free Caroline and Stefan, the new Bonnie and Clyde of the Supernatural world make their way down to New Orleans to visit with Klaus)</p><p> </p><p>“It’s always been a game, Klaus, you know that better than anyone,” Caroline says, “It’s just that I’ve finally learned the rules.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	she's the giggle at a funeral

Klaus heard about the two of them long before he saw them, before he knew they were the force of nature taking the country, the supernatural world, by storm.

Contrary to what many believed, he did still have allies.

(He hadn’t killed them all.)

And there were others, vampires he sired, vampires and witches too scared not to tell him of potential threats.

 

Renard told him of a pub in Virginia where no one had made it out alive. Blood had soaked the floors and all the alcohol had been gone. Only foot prints left behind, where someone had been dancing to the beat through the bodies. Heel prints.

 

_(Caroline liked to play with her food._

_It was interesting._

_She could see it all in their eyes. The emotions; the fear, the strength, the horror._

_And then she could see it all fade away._

_That was her favorite part._

_She danced with the boy in front of her, his hands on her hips and her face in his neck, taking small sips of blood before she would return to looking at his eyes, smiling with red tinted lips._

_His eyes were still wide with fear and just a little bit of wooziness because of the blood loss. He was losing the battle and he knew it. They both did._

_That’s why she was smiling._

_There was a crack— And then his body fell to the ground, his head removed and now in Stefan’s hand._

_“_ _I thought we agreed.” He said throwing the head to the ground, to later be placed carefully and properly with the body it belonged to. “That you only dance with me.” Caroline pouted playfully. “_

_You were busy.” She glanced back at the scattered body parts and smiled. She imagined what Stefan would do if she tried to put them back together wrong. Stefan was fun to play with too. Sometimes even easier to play with than her food._

_“_ _I’m not busy now,” He said grabbing her hips and dragging her closer._

_“Good.”)_

 

Klaus had found his hand going to his phone when he heard that it was Virginia. His fingers hovering over a familiar name.

He never called of course.

That would be weakness and he was not weak.

Not even for her.

 

 

Elijah’s contact is the next to pass them information.

A girl he had turned some centuries ago. Some red head or brunette, Klaus had lost track of his brothers passing fancies and interests over the centuries.

She talked about a pair of vampires; _like Bonnie and Clyde_ , she had said, _only actually scary_. They had left a city half ruined behind them in North Carolina. Half of it burned to the ground.

“If you knew them, I’m sure you’d become fast friends.” Elijah had said before he had walked away, pushing buttons on his phone, probably looking for more information.

Klaus had just smiled.

His brother was rather annoying but he wasn’t always wrong.

 

_(“I don’t think I like it here anymore.” Caroline said._

_She was sitting high on the altar, looking out of the pews full of people already off to God knew where. Caroline couldn’t say she didn’t believe in the other side when she had seen it herself, but she had seen it destroyed just as easily. Who’s to say Heaven couldn’t disappear just the same?_

_E_ _ither way she knew she already knew she wasn’t going there. It didn’t really bother her._

_“I thought you did,” Stefan said as he arranged things, “That it was just close enough to the ocean and had good places to shop and that the people tasted ‘just right’. I thought that’s why we had to compel them all.”_

_Stefan thought her plans were too complicated. Had wanted to taste and take and kill and then move on. He didn’t like whenever Caroline wanted to stay in one place for too long._

_“We compelled them all because Elena and Damon are still on their ‘Save Stefan’ kick.” Caroline rolled her eyes, because, duh. “It was supposed to be like a safe haven or something.” C_

_aroline was sure they had given up on her by now, but Stefan, he was different, he was—well, Stefan. They wouldn’t give up on him the way they could easily give up on her. Write her off as another mistake._

_And they’d be right, they had all made mistakes. Mistakes that had gotten her and Stefan both right where they were._

_“_ _And you’re what? Bored now?” Stefan asked still not looking at her. It should bother her more that he wasn’t. But then the whole scene should bother her more but all she was was bored. She was bored of the town, of the false smiles, of the ocean. It was time to move on._

_“No, just…” She looked around at the people and frowned. “I think they might be judging me for what we did.”_

_When she looked too close sometimes they all began to look like people she used to know._

_Used to love. Used to care about._

_Then they would fade back to the lifeless bodies that they were._

_“Maybe that’s because you’re sitting up there.” Stefan smirked at her._

_She frowned at him before hopping down from the altar and walking down the aisles. The blood they hadn’t swallowed whole was already seeping into the floors._

_“No one’s judging you, Caroline.” Stefan rolls his eyes and she didn’t have to look over her shoulder to know he was, “They all love you here. That’s what you wanted.”_

_“I don’t care. I don’t like it here anymore.” She says. “Let’s find somewhere new to go.”_

_“Caroline…”_

_“Not really a question, Stefan.” She says, “Now, do you have any matches? See that’s a question.”_

_He throws her a lighter and she smiles before flipping it open.)_

 

Klaus reads about the massacres and how no one in town knows what happened. How they didn’t understand how so many terrible things could have happened at once. How the town was ruined, destroyed, so few survivors left.

It was such a small town, full of _such_ good people, and they didn’t understand how such bad things could happen to the people there. Klaus smiled at that.

Bad things always happened to good people. Eventually the world would have to start learning that.

Being good didn’t change that.

 

 

They were already in Louisiana when he heard of them again.

Rumors circulating the Quarter, whispered and awed, or scared.

There were tales of the blonde and how she lured men to their death. A dark angel who would rip your heart out and hand it to her lover to eat. (She didn’t care for the mess.)

The man she was with, never seemed to be without blood on his hands. And that wasn’t metaphorical.

 

_(The blood on the floor seeped closer and closer, but Caroline didn’t really notice and she knew that Stefan didn’t care._

_He loved the smell of blood in the air. In knowing he helped put it there. It made him grasp her hips tighter and she smiles into his mouth._

_Blood from a boy with too bright of blue eyes on her lips and he moaned underneath her as she rolled her hips._

_All the fraternity boys were dead around the room and it would be a nice little scene for whoever stumbled upon it first. But for now it was just Caroline and Stefan, his hands sneaking under her skirt and his fingers pushing, and Caroling grinding down as she smiles back at him. Because see, this was simple. All she had wanted. S_

_he had her cake and go to eat it too. All blood red and velvet going down._

_And she had discovered there was no reason to worry about making your own bed when there were so many others to sleep in._

_“Caroline…” Stefan murmurs into her mouth and she grins._

_Yes, this was all she had really wanted in the end.)_

 

The closer they got, he considered sending someone to stop them. To eliminate them from becoming a nuisance in New Orleans.

But from all he had heard about these two, they were smart. All the rumors and known acts they had committed, and yet, no one knew who they were. Not even a hint. Even if they were newly turned, it was practically an impossible feet. Klaus thought they seemed smart enough to know to stay away from New Orleans. To stay away from him and his brother.

Then of course he gets the call, Caroline’s name flashing on his screen and her sweet voice in his ear. “Klaus?”

“Caroline,” He says, “It’s good to hear your voice.”

“It’s good to know you haven’t forgotten me,” He could practically hear the smile.

“What can I do for you, love?”

“Invite us inside.”

 

 

Elijah arrives before he does. Standing at the opening, Caroline smiling with Stefan beside her.

“I can say this is quite the surprise, Miss Forbes.” Elijah says, “Niklaus said you were busy with school.”

“I took a small break.” Caroline says, a soft shrug of her shoulder, “I…I was having trouble concentrating.”

“Yes, I heard about your mother.”

“Elijah,” Klaus slid into the conversation smoothly, “Don’t be rude, invite our guests in.”

“Oh, so we don’t need an actual invite, I would have thought you’d be more careful.” Caroline says, her forehead wrinkling.

“Too many vampires coming in and out for such.” Klaus says, “Besides some of us—”

He cuts himself off because her mother died and boasting about his own immortality would only make her leave.

“Some of us don’t worry as much as you.” He says endearingly. He offers her his arm and she happily accepts, Stefan following behind them next to Elijah.

 

 

They end up in one of the dens, drinks in all of their hands as Caroline plays with her sweater’s long sleeves and Elijah observes them a little too close.

“I hope you don’t mind us just dropping by,” Caroline says, “We probably should have called before we were on your doorstep.”

“It’s fine.” Klaus smiles, promises almost except Klaus doesn’t make promises, not really. Not ones he usually intends to keep.

He can say with perfect honesty (a rarity for him) that he did not expect to see her in New Orleans so soon. But then her life had taken a turn…changes were to be expected. And he would take what he could get.

“We’re on a bit of a road trip,” Stefan says drawing the attention back to him, “And Caroline’s getting a little sick of hotel rooms. Apparently there’s not enough variety in them. She said that you might have some rooms available.”

“That is if your offer still stands.” Caroline says looking up through her eye lashes.

There was something devilish in those innocent eyes and it made him say yes quicker than even he expected.

But then Caroline was beaming and nothing else seemed to matter.

 

 

Stefan had gone to get luggage and Klaus had sent Caroline to pick out her own room, they had more than enough.

(He did not think about where it might end up being in relation to his own.)

“Brother, please don’t tell me you were fooled by that act.” Elijah says, downing the rest of his drink. “They reek of blood.”

“ _We_ reek of blood. Centuries of it.”

“You know what I mean, Niklaus,” Elijah says. Sighs. It’s all the same in the end.

“Perhaps they were hungry before they came.”

“Klaus—”

“Don’t worry, brother, I’m thinking the same thing as you.” He turns to look at him, “We’ve met out Bonnie and Clyde. Turns out we knew them all along.”

He raised his glass in a mock toast.

Stefan returns with the luggage and Klaus gestured in the direction Caroline had gone and he followed obediently. Klaus could only imagine how they had both turned it off, the only thing he couldn’t figure out was who was following who.

 

 

Caroline appeared out of nowhere, her white dress floating around her, her golden hair like a halo and all those stories of a dark angel leading men to their deaths came back full force.

He couldn’t imagine a man who wouldn’t follow her to his own death. And that included himself. For everything he loved about her, he couldn’t think a part of him admired that she stood against him, had played in so many attempts against his life.

It was dysfunctional way of thinking, but the two of them had always been that way. They didn’t make sense. Her so full of light, even now, and him with nothing to offer but darkness and more death.

Not that she would mind in her current state.

But the true Caroline would.

“Take me somewhere fun.” Caroline says, circling behind him, perching her chin on Klaus’s shoulder.

“What kind of fun are you looking for?” He asks, waiting to hear what she says. If she’ll continue the ruse and lie or dispense of it all together.

“I don’t know, wherever you want to take me.” Caroline says, “Consider me putty in your hands. I just need a little molding.”

Somehow he thought that wasn’t true.

And as he turned to see the smile on her face, he knew he was right.

 

 

They go to the local bar. Elijah and Stefan trudging behind them as Caroline filled the air with talk of the different things they had seen.

_(“The ocean is so beautiful. I’m going back, like every month.”_

_It was a lie._

_She was tired already of the ocean. Of the sound of the waves._

_They grated against her ears.)_

She doesn’t mention the things that she and Stefan have done, the fun they had had, or the blood they had spilled. Just talked as if this was a normal road trip, two friends on the road as one grieved over the loss of her mother. Klaus had doubted any grieving had happened yet.

It would though.

It would come back full force and he didn’t know what would happen when it did. Grief seemed like too light of a word to describe what would happen. When Caroline, perfect full of light Caroline, returned to the world and had seen what she had done to it.

The bar is packed when they get there and Caroline smiles, wide and all teeth and she takes off her coat, the white sleeveless dress already alluring man and vampire alike.

“I’m going to go get a drink.” She smiles.

“I do hope she means alcohol.” Elijah says behind him.

Klaus almost smiles, though he doesn’t know if it would be real.

 

 

 

“So how exactly does it work?” Caroline asks, her head in her hand as she turns to look at him.

“How does what work?” Klaus asks. _“_

 _The rules,”_ She says, as though it should be obvious. “I mean I know the bartender’s off limits, I can tell. And I’ve never really had a taste for vampire blood, it’s not…filling enough.”

There was a slight in that, he was sure.

“But there’s all these humans in here, just waiting to be tasted. So tell me how the infamous rules of New Orleans work under the true king.”

“So, I see the act is over.” Klaus says evenly, taking a sip of his drink. He had wondered how soon that would happen.

“I can always go back to it if you like,” Caroline grins at him, “Play the little girl in need of saving.”

Her fingers crawl up his chest as she talks.

“I can write my cries for help on your bedroom walls. I can use my victims’ blood.”

“Thought this out have you?”

“I had a plan,” Caroline shrugs, “One much less bloody and violent than this. Then Stefan decided to change my mind. So no, no plan, just me. Hungry, blood thirsty, me.”

Klaus couldn’t help but stare.

Stare at the woman who had killed to save her friend’s life and still hated herself for it. Had thought herself terrible for it, so terrible she could barely look at the bodies that had surrounded them as he buried them. Who had been so horrified by herself that she couldn’t even cry. Somehow this was worse than her tears could ever be.

This, her, how she was. It was somehow far more frightening to him than her tears, her pain and grief, ever could have been.

Either way, he knew he really didn’t know how to handle her. Didn’t know the right words to say.

 

 

“You don’t have to worry about anyone finding the bodies,” Caroline promises, “They would just disappear, I already have that part worked out.”

“And Stefan?” He asks, “He’s never been known for his subtlety.”

Caroline smirks. “That’s what you have me for.”

Klaus raises an eyebrow at that. “You’re saying that you can manage the Ripper of Monterey?”

“It helps that he’s in love with me,” She shrugs and takes another drink, “But he also likes the game of it all.”

Klaus tried not to react to the news of the Ripper’s feelings, though it did make him want to break someone’s neck. Probably the Ripper’s. But then he would just get up again. And the feelings, however faint, would still be there.

Instead he tried to stay on track, tried to keep his focus on Caroline. “Is that what it is, a game?”

She laughs again, a giggle belonging to the girl who should be in the white dress, and not the monster wearing it.

“It’s always been a game, Klaus, you know that better than anyone,” Caroline says, “It’s just that I’ve finally learned the rules.”

 

 

 

Klaus had given her the freedom to take of her choosing.

She had learned the most important rules already, without having to be told. The vampires weren’t to be bothered with (he felt no need to kill his army without reason), neither was Cami, and she already had a plan to get rid of the bodies and leave no evidence behind.

One he had full confidence in, considering it was Caroline. Caroline never did things half way.

She had smiled at him, a hint of a fang peeking out behind her lips, and had disappeared into the crowd, already on the hunt.

It hadn’t taken long for her to find her prey. The blonde had attracted plenty of attention, her and her white dress, half innocence and half devil as she smiled at the men around her. But she only had eyes for one. Or appeared that way to the humans, anyways.

She circled around a blonde, her body pushed against his, and then her teeth were in his neck.

Klaus could hear her moan from where he was. Above the beating music and chatter and drinking.

Stefan appeared from the shadows, taking his place next to Caroline, his own teeth going into the other side of the boy’s neck. When he stayed there too long, Caroline put her hand on his chest and he lifted his head.

“Remember,” She mocked, “It’s all about control.”

The two of them slipped out of the club, the boy’s hands intertwined with Caroline’s, not putting up a fight and no one thought of anything as they saw them slip out.

Tourist, Klaus suspected.

 

 

Elijah joined him at the bar, ordering a scotch neat like it was any other night. Niklaus knew that for his brother it wasn’t.

“I have a question.”

“That’s never stopped you from asking and annoying me with them before,” Klaus answers, taking another drink.

He disliked not being able to see Caroline. Not being able to hear her. Not being near her.

If his sister was there she would say she had her fangs in him too.

“If they were other charges under your care, would you let them get away with what they have?”

“They haven’t done anything in the city that I do not allow,” Klaus rolls his eyes, “Caroline is aware of the rules. And anything she does outside this town isn’t my business, is it?”

“Does that include the Salvatore boy?” Elijah tilted his head.

“How unexpectedly crass of you, brother.” Klaus says taking another, longer, drink. “She’s grieving. Her mother died, an actual good woman and mother, one can hardly fault her for taking a breather.”

“She’s not taking a breather, she’s taking her mother’s death out on the world around her.”

“And yet, she somehow found her way here.” Klaus turns to his brother with a smirk, “An interesting turn of events, if I say so.”

Elijah just watched him.

“If she was taking her vengeance on the world and never wanted to stop, she could have just kept on running in the opposite direction. It would have been years before I knew anything about it most likely. Instead, she came here.” Klaus says, “To one of the few vampires who can turn that switch on with nothing but a glint in his eye.”

“You think this is a cry for help?”

“I think you’re not seeing the bigger picture,” He says, “And I think you most definitely don’t know anything about Caroline Forbes.”

 

_(Caroline and Stefan drink the boy dry._

_His name was Davis she thought, she wasn’t sure. Couldn’t remember, didn’t care; take your pick._

_He didn’t scream when they bit into him harder, when he realized he was going to die._

_Compulsion was good like that._

_Stefan had wanted to take it farther, wanted to remove his head, but her hand on his chest, moving up and down, and resting on his heart had stopped him._

_“Not tonight.” She had told him._

_“Why?”_

_“Just not tonight.” She shook her head._

_His body was pushed into the incinerator she had discovered before they had gone to Klaus’s home. It burned while Stefan and Caroline took turns licking Davis’s blood off one another.)_

 

When they returned, Stefan’s clothes had blood on them, spilled on them, and the scent filled up the room.

Caroline’s dress was as white as snow, like she hadn’t been there at all.

Like she hadn’t killed anyone. Like she had never killed anyone at all. But she smiled as she headed to her bedroom, because everyone knew differently.

“This scotch is good.” Stefan says from behind Klaus, before following Caroline up the stairs.

The charcoal in Klaus’s hands snapped.

Luckily for the Ripper, that was all that did.

 

 

They spent the night in the same room.

It’s not that close to Klaus’ but it’s not that far away either. Not for Hybrid hearing.

But nothing happens. Either they’re smart enough to know better or they’re just tired or maybe just sated by their kill of the night. Klaus doesn’t dwell on it.

He doesn’t.

He doesn’t dwell on such silly trivial matters when there are so many more important things going on. When he has an empire to run. And Caroline so very close to his bed.

Caroline of course wakes up first, crack of dawn and all that, barely after he and his brother had. She comes down in tight jeans and a flowy pink top, and it’s almost easy to see things that aren’t there. It’s easy to see the girl he knew and not the humanity-free vampire in front of him.

She smiles at him, stealing the cup of blood from his hands and finishing it off.

“A positive,” Caroline says, “Not as good as B positive.”

“I’ll look into that.”

“Good,” She says handing the empty glass back to him. “It’s my favorite.”

She stands and starts heading towards the door but his voice stops her. “And where are we going?”

 _“We?”_ Caroline turns around, “Nowhere. I’m going out to explore a little. Don’t worry though, I won’t be eating.”

“I thought I promised to show you New Orleans.”

“And all the art and culture and music it has to offer.” Caroline smiles, “Don’t worry, you’ll still get the chance. I promise not to go anywhere you’ll take me.”

She walks closer, placing a lingering kiss on his cheek, before turning and speeding out of the room.

He could stop her of course.

Probably should.

But she had promised. And this was the first time she had touched him in such a way since that day in Mystic Falls.

 

 

 

Stefan wakes up much later, drinking alcohol before he even asks about blood or Caroline.

“You let her go out on her own?”

“She knows the rules of the city, she’ll follow them.” Klaus says not looking up from the paper.

He likes the Ripper, considers him a friend though he knows their relationship now is rocky at best, but he likes him and what he is capable of. And without his humanity, he could make an excellent General to Klaus’s army. He doesn’t actually want to do him harm.

It doesn’t mean he won’t.

“She has you wrapped around her littlest finger,” Stefan laughs, “I doubt she gives a damn about the rules that apply to everyone else. She probably thinks she’s the exception to the rules.”

“You don’t speak kindly of the woman you supposedly love.” Klaus drawls.

There’s a pause and it swells in the room and then Stefan is laughing.

“Klaus, my humanity’s off, _Caroline_ made sure of that.” He said, and Klaus wondered what the blonde had done. If there was another dead doppelganger out there in the world. “I don’t feel anything. But I especially don’t feel love.”

“And before?”

“There is no before,” Stefan says toasting his empty glass at Klaus, “You taught me that. Remember?”

 

 

 

Caroline returns hours later, a satisfied smile on her face.

Elijah is immediately on alert. And even Stefan has perked up from where he was listlessly turning pages in a novel older than him.

“Caroline…I thought we agreed on not eating while we were out.” Klaus reprimands her.

She rolls her eyes. “I didn’t. Well unless street car food and coffee counts. Geez, can’t a girl just be happy?”

“Not with her humanity off.” Elijah says.

Caroline smiles and turns to look at him. “Aww, Klaus, your family doesn’t like me. Whatever will we do?”

Her eyes return to Klaus and her smile widens, “What ever happened to those daggers you had that work on everyone in your family but you?”

 _“Caroline.”_ His voice was a warning but Caroline was past warnings apparently. All she does is roll her eyes again.

“ _Fine._ I’m not happy. I’m physically incapable of it without my humanity, your very astute brother is right.”

“But…” Stefan prompts.

“But I am satisfied.” She says, “I made plans for all of this evening. Hope no one’s busy.”

Caroline leaves and Stefan follows and Klaus thinks that’s how it will always be. That maybe all these years Stefan has just been looking for someone to follow and he found it in Caroline and doesn’t want to give it up, no matter the cost or opponent.

 

 

_(_ _It had been easy to find the tourists amongst the crowd._

_New Orleans residents blended in well, even the darker crowd, scanning the crowd for dinner or the witches in turn scanning for vampires and other nasty beings._

_The tourists weren’t hard to find. They didn’t fit in and they didn’t even try._

_Technically, Caroline was a tourist too, and she used it to her advantage. That and her bouncy blonde curls and pink top and the shy smile that had gotten Tommy Fell to pay attention to her freshman year when all other freshmen girls were beneath him._

_Th_ _ey were all so easy. No vervain in their system._

_And when they thought she was asking for directions or if they had seen her boyfriend or if they knew where she could get a good cup of coffee, she was looking in their eyes, her pupils dilating as she gave them their orders for the night._

_They’d have one nice day in New Orleans._

_And a night that would make them scream.)_

 

 

“Where exactly are we going?” Klaus asks impatiently. Elijah had opted out of the evening’s festivities, to no one’s surprise. But Klaus had allowed himself to be dragged along, Stefan following behind them. Klaus smiled to himself about that.

“You’re the one who lives in New Orleans,” Caroline says, “You tell me.”

She grabs his hand, intertwining their fingers.

Her hands were cold, just like her now; Klaus could hear the words whispered in the back of his head. They sounded like Elijah. Like himself. He ignored them anyways.

“Besides, isn’t guessing half the fun?” She asks, looking up at him.

“I’m not a fan of surprises.”

“Don’t worry,” Caroline smiles and damn if he hadn’t come to hate that smile. That mockery of a smile that once was. A shadow of it. “You’ll like this one.”

She stops in front of a warehouse that should be empty, but Klaus’s ears pick up on heartbeats, plenty of them.

“Really, Caroline?” Stefan asks, “Another warehouse?”

“What can I say I like the classics?” She says opening the door and revealing the group of humans.

“Look, Klaus, a warehouse full of humans for the taking.”

Caroline let her hand slide out of his, though her eyes stayed connected to his as she entered the warehouse, slowly disappearing into the crowd.

 

 

 

Caroline had already had her fangs in two humans and was tasting another when he found her. He pulled her away roughly, the sound of flesh breaking as he sped her to the nearest wall, holding her there.

She smiles at him, testing his strength against her wrists just a little. “Really, Klaus? In front of all these people?” She says, “How exciting.”

“What are you doing, Caroline?” He grates out.

Stefan appears behind him, ready and prepared to help, but his fists remain by his side. Closed so tightly they might be drawing blood.

“Having fun?” Caroline says, a hint of confusion almost in her eyes, but just like everything else, he can’t tell if it’s a lie. “Don’t you like it?”

“You agreed to follow my rules.”

“Please,” Caroline rolls her eyes, “I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m not breaking any of your _precious rules._ The humans are compelled to forget anything that happens, no one dies, and everyone gets a little blood in their systems to make sure that they heal up nicely. And then they’ll spend the next twenty four hours here, to let the blood leave their system, compelled not to do anything reckless.”

His grip slacked just a little as she studied his eyes.

“And if you look, there are two refrigerators stocked with food and water. They’ll all be fine. No bodies, no clean up, nothing for you to worry about.”

“I see you have it all planned out.” He says, though it’s not kindly or even a compliment.

There was a reason humanity free vampires were so reckless, so often killed, so often found out. And it was because they never thought that far ahead. It was because they didn’t have it in them to plan it all out. They wanted only their most basic of desires.

They didn’t want…this.

“I always have a plan, Klaus,” Caroline smiles, “It’s just that people never seem to want to listen to them.”

“Come on, Klaus,” Caroline purrs, her body arching just a little in his hold, “You know you want a taste, I bet your fangs are just begging to drop.”

“And Stefan?” He asks, “What will stop him from tearing off a head and leaving him to be punished?”

She laughs again, looking past him and at the man in question. Still standing there, as if he was just waiting for orders. “Oh, don’t worry so much, Klaus, we have an agreement, you won’t have to sink those pearly whites into him. He already knows if he gets too out of control, I’ll find something sharp and wooden to shove in to him. It won’t be the first time.”

“You really do think you have control over him.”

“We’re the same,” She mocks, “He told me himself. Which means I have just as much power over him as he does me.”

Caroline smirks.

“Sound familiar?”

 

 

Klaus leaves, though not before cracking a few necks along the way. Caroline will have to clean up after all and it’s not much, but it’s all he can do right now.

He had miscalculated.

He hated that.

He returned home to Elijah, looking at him with questioning and judging eyes. Klaus does not reply to any of his unasked questions.

 

_(Angry, or more annoyed really, with Klaus and how he disrupted her plans, more than a little blood was shed that night._

_Most of their party attendees were fine of course, that was the plan. But then Klaus had fucked up the plan and Caroline and Stefan had taken turns killing at least five more people._

_It was almost funny, the way that no one reacted as their blood spilled around them._

_Stefan missed the screams, but to Caroline they were just a distraction from what she really wanted. According to Stefan she was doing it all wrong, not inflicting enough pain, it was what vampires did after all._

_B_ _ut for Caroline, the kill was all that really mattered. That look in their eyes as the light went out, the taste of blood in her mouth, their bodies slack in her arms. That was all she really wanted._

_Stefan had turned her into a monster, it didn’t mean he got to decide what kind of monster she would be.)_

 

 

Klaus wakes to two pieces of wood (his bed railing) imbedded into his arms, holding him down and Caroline on top of him, hovering over him.

“I wondered how long it would take you to wake up,” She says, that curious spark in her eyes, “Was it the impalement or me crawling over you, you think?”

Her, definitely her. The pieces of wood barely registered and were easily removable. But Caroline, Caroline was very distracting. Her short skirt riding up and showing more pale skin, the way the breath she didn’t need felt on his face, the way her hair grazed against his skin. All of it was far more distracting.

“You ruined my plans last night.”

“You’ve helped ruined many of mine.”

“Yes, but getting rid of bodies is such nasty business,” Caroline says scrunching her nose up in distaste, “And no one even got to eat them. Even Stefan thought it was a waste.”

“We’re finally together in bed and you want to talk about Stefan?”

She grins again, bright and beautiful and every bit a predator if you know what you’re looking for. Caroline had always been a predator, of course. Since he had met her, she had always been a threat, capable of anything to save those she loved. But this was different. This was something very different.

(She didn’t have anyone to love anymore.)

“Aww, don’t be jealous, Klaus,” Caroline says, “You can always tell him you got there first. Not that he doesn’t already know, but maybe you can describe it in more…graphic detail.”

“Is there anyone you don’t want to hurt?” He asks.

She pauses above him, sitting up and leaning back, as she considers.

“There isn’t anyone left that matters.” Caroline finally says. “I can’t say I have intentions of hurting anyone specifically, just that no one’s off limits.”

“And me?” He asks, and he hates that he’s almost afraid to know the answer. Its weakness and he knows it is.

“Oh, Klaus,” She smiles, “All we’ve ever done is hurt each other. It’s part of the fun.”

She leaves him with a kiss, her lips coated in blood (B positive), before she leaves the room.

 

 

 

“Are you really not going to do anything, brother?” Elijah asks as he watches Caroline on the dance floor. She is the thing that everyone is watching. Her hips swaying and her lips enticingly red. It’s hard for anyone to look away.

“She hasn’t—”

“I know, I knoq, but if she had, would that even matter to you?” He asks, “Or would she be the exception to all these rules you’ve made. Would you put her at your side and lord her around as your queen?”

“Elijah…”

“Anyone else and they would no longer have a head.” He says, “I don’t know why Stefan Salvatore even still has his attached to his body.”

“Because she would never forgive me.” Klaus says quietly, “When her humanity returns and she becomes whole again, she would never forgive me for that. For him.”

“You speak as if you know what will happen, when it will happen.” Elijah says, “The switch is not what all vampires believe and everything will eventually catch up to her. But she has hundreds of years to harden herself into something that even you won’t recognize, to make it all hurt less. To make Stefan Salvatore just another name on long list of people who have died.”

“She wouldn’t be here if she didn’t want the switch to be turned back on.”

“Everything she does says differently.” Elijah’s eyes returned to the blonde, in the middle of the dance floor, blood on her lips as she danced.

 

_(Stefan interrupts the dance, pushing the other man away without saying anything, and the guy is smart enough to know better than to say anything._

_Or it’s just the blood loss getting to him. Either way._

_Caroline smiles as Stefan’s hands meet her waist, pulling her tight to his chest, to him._

_“Jealous?” “_

_I thought we had a rule about you dancing with other men.” He growls._

_She likes the sound of it, the way it ripples through his chest and she can feel it run through her body when there this close._

_“Jealous.” She repeats, her hips moving in just the right way, making him groan._

_She lifts her lips to his ear, “He was just going to be dinner.”_

_Her lips slip down, wrapping around his earlobe and biting down until it hurt just right and suddenly she and Stefan were outside, pushed against the wall, and his lips were on hers._

_Caroline smiles again.)_

 

Klaus sees the leave and follows, because sometimes he cannot help himself.

(Lack of self-control, one of the many issues Cami had told him he had.)

He finds them still in the back alley, Caroline pressed against the brick wall and Stefan pressed ever closer against Caroline, his lips caressing her neck. Never once does he bite down on the tempting flesh.

_(“You’re saying that you can manage the Ripper of Monterey?”_

_“It helps that he’s in love with me.”)_

“Stefan,” Caroline moans, and for a moment Klaus thinks it’s a warning, that she had realized he was there and was trying to stop him, to remind him that not all vampires are immortal.

For a moment he thinks that.

For a moment. “Stefan,” She repeats, “More.”

The other vampire is inside her then and Caroline turns her head. Her eyes meeting Klaus’s as she says Stefan’s name again.

Again and again and again.

Her eyes never leave his, not until he’s the one to turn away.

 

 

 

He tears up one of the many spare bedrooms, until all that is left is pieces of fabric and wood.

Klaus considers taking a piece of the wood and shoving it through Stefan’s heart.

_(“Stefan, Stefan, Stefan,” She panted, begging him to go faster.)_

He considers all the ways he could drag it out. How many times he could shove it just close enough to his heart but not into it, before he finally slipped and went for what he really wanted. All the other ways he could harm him, make him beg for the pain to stop, only to repeat it again and again until there’s no one left to hurt.

He wonders if he would force Caroline to watch, compel her to.

Wonders if she would even care.

He grabs a piece of wood and leaves the room.

Someone else will deal with eventually, most likely Elijah, wherever he may have gotten.

 

 

Caroline wakes with a gasp as Klaus pushes the piece of wood through her stomach.

Her eyes wide and her mouth open as she stares up at him. A picture he has seen before.

Then of course she laughs.

She sees Klaus hovering above her and laughs.

A little bit of blood slides down from her mouth but she laughs anyways. “Hello, Klaus.” She says, licking the blood off herself. None left for him to taste.

Her eyes stay on him again and he hates her, he does, he hates her so very much. Wants to end it all there. But he knows he’ll regret it later.

Later.

It was all too early for this, he realizes.

Years of seeing what the world had to offer and then she was to return to him. Still his golden Caroline. Still the Caroline he had always known. Golden hair and a smile that would make him follow her, even to his death. But it would be different then.

Because she was coming to him. She was accepting what they were, who they could be together, and what the world could be. And it would all be different.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

She blinks, looking at him curiously as he studies her. “Is there a reason were doing this?” She asks, as though he had not just staked her, “Or did you just want a turn too?”

There is a Caroline he can see a future with.

And there is a Caroline he hates with a furious passion.

 

 

 

He drags her out of the bedroom, his hands wrapped around her wrist, though she doesn’t struggle. They find Stefan in the den again, another glass of alcohol in front of him and Klaus can’t think of a time that he hasn’t had one in his hand since he got there. When he wasn’t feasting with Caroline that is.

Klaus rips the piece of wood out of Caroline’s stomach, she makes a faint noise in the background, and hurls it at Stefan catching him in the shoulder and pinning him to the wall.

“Is this what you were hoping for, Caroline?” He asks stalking towards Stefan, “Jealousy? Violence? A good show for you to enjoy? Something to entertain you?”

Klaus snarls as he pushes the wood in further and whips around to look at her.

Caroline’s face doesn’t show anything.

“Is this what you wanted?” He yells.

His fangs drop and tears out the piece of wood (and Stefan screams like a good little Ripper) and then his fangs are in the other man’s neck, venom entering his system as Klaus drinks his fill. “You wanted me to feed, are you happy now?”

“I’m incapable of happiness, remember?” Caroline says, “Your brother said so himself.”

Klaus drops Stefan to the floor.

 

Caroline doesn’t scream, doesn’t gasp, doesn’t do anything really.

She takes a step closer, her eyes on Stefan. On the blood flowing from his neck, the shock already setting into the male vampire.

She had been there before of course, but Klaus had saved her. She had no reassurance that he would do the same for Stefan.

“You bit him,” She finally says. Her tone is even though, stating the obvious.

“Isn’t that what you wanted? For me to join you in your fun?”

“I thought you liked fun.” Caroline tells him.

“I don’t like this.”

“This or me?” Caroline says, stepping a little closer, “Because I’ve heard this little speech before, about my emotions, about what I’m doing, about how wrong it is, how wrong I am. And it hasn’t worked before.”

“You’re right, talking won’t work, and somehow, you’ve become twisted enough that violence work either. Not against _you_. That’s what we have Stefan for, isn’t it?”

 

 

 

“It’s rather simple, Caroline.” Klaus says, “You can either turn it back on or Stefan here can die a rather agonizing death. And his death will come _very_ soon.”

“I remember.” She says, her eyes peering over Stefan’s body, studying it. He was still on the ground where Klaus had dropped him, and he was right, a Hybrid’s bite worked much faster through the veins than a werewolf's venom did.

Stefan jerked a little on the floor, the blood still dripping from his neck from Klaus’s fangs.

“It’s the pain that will really be a problem.” Caroline says still looking him over. “The hallucinations won’t bother him, not with his emotions off. Unless of course the chance of dying or the pain actually turns his emotions back on. Then it actually would be an agonizing death.”

“And you?” Klaus asks, slowly, unsure. “You wouldn’t turn it back on from the pain of losing him?”

She laughs a little, giggles really.

“Contrary to what you believe, Klaus, one person has a chance of bringing me back before I want to, and that’s _Stefan_.” Caroline says, “Kill him and I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I don’t have to worry about him turning it back on or looking at me in just the wrong way or reminding me somehow of who I was. I couldn’t kill him, even with no emotions, that’s how important he was to me. But you killing him—somehow I can live with that. The real question is if _you_ can.”

Klaus stared at her for a moment, assessing the woman in front of him. He had made a mistake in the beginning, in thinking that the girl he knew was close to the surface, just waiting to be let out. Just waiting for the right trigger, a trigger he was more than happy to supply, whatever it may be.

Stupidly believing that she had sought him out for that very reason.

He didn’t like being wrong.

“I could always bite you too.” Klaus says, “Do you think your own mortality would matter more to you?”

She giggled again, twisted and a mockery of the sound he once longed to hear, to cause. It had become something new, something wicked.

(Katerina would be so very proud of the vampire she had created.)

And while he had always wanted Caroline to embrace what and who she was, _this,_ this wasn’t what he wanted.

“Klaus, we both know you wouldn’t do that. Or maybe you would, but in the end you wouldn’t go through with it, wouldn’t actually let me die.” She smiles. “I mean how can you save me if I’m dead?”

Caroline takes a step back looking between him and Stefan. His eyes are open now and he’s watching them through the pain that’s beginning to set in.

“It is why Stefan led me here after all.” Caroline says, “See, just like you, some part of him wants to save me. Wants the girl back that he loved. Wants me to grieve and then go back to being the ray of light in a world full of dark. He wants me exactly as I was. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because he never really turned it off at all.”

She shook her head as she turned, smirking as she left.

Klaus had miscalculated.

It was a game, it was all a game, and Caroline had finally learned all the rules.

 

 

 

_(Caroline smiles as she leaves and no one follows behind her._

_No Stefan and his bloodthirsty puppy routine. Or Klaus, watching, waiting, trying to figure her out. Not even Elijah and his disapproving smile. For once in a long time, no one is following her and she is alone._

_S_ _he can hear Klaus in the background, feeding Stefan his blood, healing him, and she was not surprised._

_It was almost ironic though._

_All those people killed to save her soul, to get her to Klaus for him to save her, and none of it had mattered._

_They were just dead._

_Caroline had had a plan. A good one. The kind where no one got hurt and she got to live her life. She had only had one simple, easy request. For no one to try to make her turn it back on._

_Stefan ruined it all._

_So she ruined him._

_Caroline might not have gotten Stefan to get rid of his humanity, but she had brought out the monster underneath anyways, the Ripper. And all with his humanity on._

_Caroline couldn’t help but think she had won.)_


End file.
